Succession

Divorce is the dissolution of a marriage that has subsisted for three or more years. There are five forms of marriages in Kenya: Civil Christian Hindu Islamic Customary The common grounds for dissolution of all forms of marriage are: cruelty adultery desertion exceptional depravity irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. For customary marriages,...

 This is unlawful. Interfering with the property of a deceased person is referred to as Intermeddling. To intermeddle means to interfere wrongly with property, or the conduct of business affairs, officiously or without right or title - Black’s Law Dictionary 6th edition.  In law, the intermeddler has no legal authority or power to transfer ownership of the property of a dead person. This is an...

The Court of Appeal has ordered the subdivision of Sh2.5 billion parcel of land among two brothers and their sister who have been battling over distribution for 42 years. The land measuring 127 acres at Tigoni in Kiambu County is under coffee, tea, dairy farming, vegetables and staple crops. The appellate court comprising its president Justice William Ouko, Lady Justice Hannah Okwengu and Mr Justice...

What is intestate succession? Intestate succession is where a person dies without having made a will or the will is invalidated. How is intestate succession done? There are various things that are considered when one dies intestate. Below is what is considered.  If you're married and have children Your surviving spouse shall be entitled to personal and household effects absolutely....

SUCCESSION PROCEDURE Many people in Kenya do not have titles due to difficulties expected in the land succession processes. Processing land succession can be an expensive, inaccessible and complicated procedure. The steps required in the succession process are explained below. Inheritance Procedure: Inheritance of land is one of the most common ways through one can own land. However, in many...

Fraudsters have invented new tricks to steal land, including causing the dead to ‘come back to earth’ to seal land deals and then crawl back to the land of the dead. In the new trend that has baffled legal experts, the fraudsters then sell the land to unsuspecting people and vanish into thin air after pocketing millions of shilling, leaving the buyers and the disinherited person(s) to battle it out...

A woman claiming to have been married to a Murang'a businessman under Gikuyu customary law has been barred from inheriting the man's property by the High Court. Loyce Wangari Ngigi claimed to have been married to Stephen Ngigi Karwigi who died in August 2013 leaving behind a construction firm and over 40 landed properties that generate income.  High Court judge Justice Kanyi Kimondo dismissed her claim...

Who has the right to inherit a deceased person’s property? The Law of Succession Act Cap 160 provides for persons that can inherit the property of a deceased person under section 29 as dependants which include:  the wife or wives, or former wife or wives, and the children of the deceased whether or not maintained by the deceased immediately prior to his death;  such of the deceased’s...

QUESTION I have earned property with my husband for about 25 years. In the initial years, every property was registered under his name, due to patriarchy of course. I didn't find anything wrong with that after all, everything was ours and our children. Recently I discovered he has fathered two small children with another woman. I fear my sweat may end up being shared with those children born out of...

What is the importance of a will? A will enables you to have control over your property even after you are deceased. For instance, how your estate should be distributed. If you die without a will, your estate will be distributed to your relatives according to a certain legal formula. This can be very different from what you wanted or intended to happen. It can also cause complications, delays and extra...

What is succession?  Succession is the right and transmission of the rights and obligations of the deceased to his heirs.  The Kenya law of succession prescribes the rules which determine what ought to happen to a person's estate after his or her death. It is also referred to as the law of inheritance i.e. transmission of property rights from the dead to the living.  The rules of...

A will is a legal declaration by a person, of his wishes or intentions regarding the disposition of his property after his death, duly made and signed in accordance with the law. A will includes any attachments to the will, explaining or altering any part of the will. Such attachments are known as codicils and have to be signed. A will can either be oral or written. An oral will is only valid if it is...

The widow of a Mombasa businessman has moved to court to stop the distribution of her husband’s Sh600 million estate. Katharina Walele, the widow of Gasper Walele Mwanguwa, wants the High Court to nullify a decision by a lower court that allowed the property to be distributed to her daughter Veronica Kalamba, son Julius Mndwariga and stepson John Ighacho. Katharina is only entitled to a Sh10,000...